Virgin Australia has warned that profits will fall short of last year following changes to its booking system and the tough trading environment.
The carrier said revenue losses as a result of the technology overhaul will not be recovered in the fourth quarter “given the slower than anticipated movement in trading and economic conditions”.
Virgin moved from the Navitaire system to Sabre in January in a shift which forced it to temporarily scale back services.
Chief executive John Borghetti had previously forecast an improvement on last year’s pre-tax profit of $82.5 million.
In a statement to the stock exchange last night, Virgin Australia said it was unable to give a more accurate assessment of its profits “given the slower trading conditions and competitive and weakening economic environment”.
The airline also said capacity growth in the second half of the financial year will be around 4%, down from previous guidance of 5%-7%.
It added that it expects capacity growth beyond June to “further moderate” with likely expansion of 4%-5% in the first half of the 2013/14 financial year.
